Thursday, June 30, 2011

Apart from heads spinning in 360-degree circles and streams of flowing green vomit, real-life exorcisms are remarkably similar to what you see in the movies, an Australian exorcist says.

Father Barry May - an Anglican priest, exorcist, author and former police chaplain - has performed dozens of exorcisms in his 40 years of ministry.

The 73-year-old Perth man says more Australians are seeking exorcisms, and as such, over the past four years he has dedicated his life solely to ridding people of their demons.

Father May tells anyone sceptical about the ancient Catholic ritual to "get real" and psychologists have backed the man, saying exorcism "has its place" in society.

"I've been spat at, yelled at, grabbed at, sworn at, had people trying to rip my crucifix off my throat, gouge my eyes out, fighting, assault. I get all that stuff and you tell me it's superstition?" Father May said.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

You don't need to look far to find stories of the supernatural. You just need to hang with people and give them space to share their stories.

If you can recall way, way back, we published a story about a house in the sea side town of Bundeena where the little girl kept telling her parents of a 'ghost boy" who would appear at her window. The boy shared with the girl that he had drowned. Of course, that information freaked the parents out even more than a boy appearing at the window. And when you hear of cases like that you often think "could it be an overactive imagination or is something really going on"? Also, the owner didn't know if there had ever been a drowning in the area.

Well this morning I got an SMS that said "Baz give us a call ASAP very Interesting news I have".

And it went something like this:

Two older ladies visited the house last weekend where the little boy had been appearing. They informed the owner that one of them was a previous resident in years gone by and was now in the process of buying a house on that street again. They asked if they could look at the house and yard, which bordered a creek that ran into the estuary. As they looked around they walked out and looked at the creek. "It's a shame" one of the ladies commented "that the little boy drowned in that creek, that was very sad for the family and the community".

So what is going on here? Having not seen the boy with my own eyes it's still an issue of taking the owners word for it.

But if they are conducting themselves with integrity and the story is true - then how does that effect our views on the afterlife? A dominant view in Christianity is that children go "straight to heaven" as they are too young to sin in their own free will. So that leaves us with a couple of possibilities - someone is playing a prank - one is that it's a spiritual mimic - and the other is that the spirit of a child still hangs around Bundeena.

The family is not very keen to be investigated but add that to your own list of "understanding the afterlife".

Sunday, June 19, 2011

In the 1960's the NSW government built masses of housing for low income earners. They envisaged communities who would thrive in communal spaces so they built common play areas, interconnecting pathways that ran alongside and behind blocks of adjoined houses and their common walls. These were known as Housing Comission projects.

It was a grand idea in theory that was a monumental failure in practice terms of building the community in a unified manner. Whilst there were many low income earners or people in need who genuinely benefitted from affordable rents, after the introduction of the 'dole' in the 1970's they often became a hub intergernerational welfare dependancy - to the point where we are now seeing up to four generations of families in the housing commission environment who had never worked by the 2,000's.

And in those graffitied labyrinth like pathways that weave around and behind those housing blocks is where our first investigation this year begins to take place in our series of 'real life stories' on the border of the Sutherland Shire and St George area's in Southern Sydney.

The young man knew he was not allowed out so he did what all teenagers do - lied to his parents - about where he was. He was not meant to be visiting friends in this housing commission block, nor did anyone know he was zipping around on his Razor scooter on those pathways, alone at 10:30pm on a cold, drizzly and misty night in Sydney.

As he headed home along the pathway between the houses he heard something that wasn't overly odd - the sound of someone calling out. He stopped and looked and realised that the odd thing was that someone was calling out to him - was it a cry for help? He stopped and looked back at the source of the sound - no one was there. He was aware of a story whispered around this block in hushed tones - that a mother and baby had been run down accidentally in a terrible automobile accident many, many years ago. Not only had something terrible happened but there was a grisly reminder - people often saw the mother pushing the child in the pram around the block and vanishing in plain sight.

He pushed these thoughts out of his mind. He was Aboriginal and his family had grown up with many spiritual experiences - why would something like this faze him. He continued on his way.

As he came around the corner of a tiny cul-de-sac he heard the cry again. This time he looked and there not 20 metres from him - a lady pushing a baby in a pram - in the freezing cold night in the peak of a blustery southerly wind. He watched as they walked toward him and then dematerialize before his eyes. He kicked his scooter as quick as his feet would push it along with the echo of the racing wheels bouncing off the buckled and scribbly tagged colourbond walls.

"Sir, you should do an investigation eh" He said to me as he recounted the story.

And so, the investigation begins - with the search for the details of the mysterious lady and child. Is this story rooted in fact or another urban myth. Is there another darker force at work here, mimicing a dead person. Checking with Births, deaths and marriages, newspaper articles and questions for long time residents are our starting point. It's time for us to take a walk down those dark alleys, past groups of young men in hoodies dealing in danger to find out what is really going on.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

We have spent the last month looking at the subject of Dragons covering areas from the mythology of in dragons primordial chaos and end times eschatology to real life encounters people may have had with dragons or dragon like creatures throughout history.

And now, thanks to simply hanging out with people and asking them for their stories, we have a new series of weekly. real life stories, that will stun you. These stories come from discussions with indigenous and pacific Island teenagers who have one foot in western materialism and the other in their cultures and the spirit world that surrounds it.

Imagine if your house was circled by a black figure dripping with blood with glowing red eyes - In suburban Tweed Heads.

What if you were swimming in a water hole and had your foot gripped by the icy hand of the thing you believed was a tribal myth. And what if it tried to pull you to your death?

Moari hunters alseep when they are attacked by a white mist with malicious intent.

Running down a trail when your sister is grabbed by an invisable force and carried away into the bush - who is released instantly when you cry out "Help me Jesus".

Discovering a beautiful white horse which circles you and then dissapears before the whole families eyes.

A floating man that taps on the second story window who is seen by all the occupants.

And thats just the start.

I asked a man who is a psychologist who lived in Ireland for two years why he thought that people in rural places or had ancient beliefs experienced so many encounters. After his stories - real life stories - of people encountering elementals, leprechauns, gnomes, faeries, trolls and all sorts of strange creatures - he described these creatures as the "fallen kingdom" all created by God but somehow fallen. "Seventy percent of the universe is dark matter" he said "I would expect 70% of our world to be dark matter that needs to come into the light - the light of redemption - which is Jesus' plan to restore a fallen universe". People who live close to these primeval spirits understand they exist - we who are so busy and so connected to technology - the virtual universe - miss it and when we get glimpses its terrifying".

"Potentially the Most Convincing Evidence of Bigfoot, Since the Patterson Film of 1967.We have an full upper body impression including half of its face. On the passenger side window of a pickup truck and on the drivers side window, the Nostrils, Nose and Lips of a Bigfoot.Who: World Media - Please RSVP to SangerParanormal@aol.comWe will contact you to confirm your attendance.What: No, it’s not a Bigfoot in a Freezer and we are not affiliated with those guys in any way. This evidence was captured during an expedition in the HighSierra’s of California during the Memorial Day weekend of 2011. There were a total of 5 people in attendance who made the discovery. Three of those people are…1. Is an award winning High School Principal with a Masters Degree, Formerly a ScienceTeacher and a former investigator forwww.BFRO.com.2. Correctional Officer for 19 years and is Employed at a prison in California. Was featured on aEpisode of Monster Quest titled" the Sierra Sasquatch”.3. Is a Employee at AT&T Telephone. Associates Degree in Electronics. Founder of the www.SangerParanormalSociety.comAlso, a 14 year Forensic Specialist who is friends with 2 of the people mentioned above was called out to come and take photos and swabFor DNA......This location where the evidence was captured is known for heavy Bigfoot activity and has been regularly visited by the investigators mentioned above.When: June 23, 2011 at 4:00 pmWhere: Piccadilly Inn,Banquet Hall 5115 E. McKinley Ave,Fresno, Calif. 93727 Ph: 559-251-6000 fax-559-251-6956Directly across from Fresno Yosemite National Airport."

Monday, June 13, 2011

According to Wikipedia The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages. Language wise they survive in the modern Celtic speakers of Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. But that is slowly dying out unfortunately.

In Celt mythology the dragon had influence over the land (like the Japanese and Chinese dragons in my previous blog post). On the website dragonorama areas frequented by dragons had special power and the regular paths taken by dragons would turn into ley lines. They are strongly associated with water and unlike many depictions of dragons these tended to have no legs...

Like in Japanese and Chinese culture they were seen as representing power. They also could represent the circle of life as depicted with their tail in their mouth.

Since the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, the dragons have been portrayed as devils or satan. The story of Saint Patrick (The patron saint of Ireland) is about him converting the Irish. Many people see the dragons/serpents that were chased out of the country as actually just a representation of paganism and not ACTUAL dragons/serpents. What do you think?

The dragon is in the Welsh flag. From Wikipedia "The flag incorporates the Red Dragon of Cadwaladr, King of Gwynedd, along with the Tudor colours of green and white. It was used by Henry VII at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 after which it was carried in state to St Paul's Cathedral. The red dragon was then included in the Tudor royal arms to signify their Welsh descent. It was officially recognised as the Welsh national flag in 1959."

So why are they still so prolific in Celtic culture today?Is it to acknowledge heritage and history? Do Dragons exist today? What are your thoughts?

Sunday, June 5, 2011

I don't know if its the same for you but when I think of Eastern culture, especially Japanese and Chinese I think of dragons.

These creatures generally look different to a western dragon. Eastern dragons don't have wings for example.Dragons in western culture are said to be a representation of evil, but in eastern culture they are benevolent and are revered. According to about.com the Chinese dragon is a symbol of imperial power. The dragon was a symbol of the emperor, a 5 toed dragon represented the emporer and 3 toed dragons were commoners. Also dragons are considered symbols of good luck.

According to about.com "Traditionally the dragons are considered as the governors of rain falls in Chinese culture. They have the power to decide where and when to have rain falls." The chinese dragons are associated with water, lakes, oceans, storms, floods etc.

The japanese dragon is also associated with water. It was considered a water deity. There are a lot of similarities between the japanese and chinese dragons, according to wikipedia "Japanese dragons are diverse legendary creatures in Japanese mythology and folklore. Japanese dragon myths amalgamate native legends with imported stories about dragons from China, Korea and India. The style of the dragon was heavily influenced by the Chinese dragon"

The eastern dragon fascinates me more than the western style dragon. Maybe because the eastern dragon is more associated with peace and nature where as the western dragon is fierce and fiery.

I find it interesting though that dragons feature in both western and eastern mythology. Does that lend credability to the existence of such a creature? Or are these no more real than the loch ness monster?
What are YOUR thoughts on dragons? Personally, I think they belong to myths and legends but its interesting to have a look into. There is A LOT of information on dragons in different cultures but I don't want to just copy and paste a tonne of information. I encourage you to look into this yourselves and share your discoveries.

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